Well, that probably explained part of our national debt. “But what about people asking questions—looking for your parents?”
Daemon glanced at me sidelong. “There’s always an older Luxen we can pass off for our parent, or we can morph into an older version. The morphing thing we try to avoid because of the trace.”
Shaking my head, I settled back against the couch. Running their own lives since they were fifteen, with just Matthew checking in on them. I shouldn’t be so shocked. My own life was sort of that way, with my mom working so much since Dad died.
Daemon was watching me in his intense way when I looked at him. “Do you want me to leave?”
There was the opening—my chance to tell him to go. “No. You don’t have to. I mean, I’m not doing anything and if you have nothing to do, you can stay or whatever…” Or I needed to just shut up.
His eyes held mine a moment, and a swelling developed in my chest, threatening to consume me whole. His gaze moved to my shiny red laptop sitting on the coffee table. “I see someone got something for her birthday.”
I grinned. “Yeah, Mom got it for me. I’ve been without since…well, since then.”
He scratched his cheek. “Yeah, I didn’t apologize for that, did I?”
“No.” I sighed. Back to awkward conversation. And not only that, I was remembering just how I’d lost my last laptop.
Daemon cleared his throat. “That’s never happened before, the whole blowing-stuff-up part.”
My cheeks heated as I stared at my laptop. “Same here.”
His gaze focused on the TV again. “It happened with Dawson, in a way. It was how Bethany found out.” There was a pause and I held my breath. He rarely talked about his brother. “He was making out with her and lost control. Turned full Luxen while kissing her.”
“Yikes. That had to be…”
“Awkward?”
“Yeah, awkward.”
Silence fell between us, and I couldn’t help but wonder if we were thinking the same thing. How it had felt to be kissing…touching. Skin uncomfortably hot, I searched for something safe to talk about. “Dee said you guys had moved a lot. How many different places?”
“We stayed in New York for a while, then we moved to South Dakota. And if you think nothing goes on here, you haven’t lived in South Dakota. Then we moved to Colorado before coming here. I was always the one who provoked the change in scenery. It’s like I was looking for something, but none of those places had it.”
“I bet New York was your favorite place.”
“Actually, it’s not.” A bit of his teeth showed in his slight smile. “It’s here.”
Surprised, I laughed. “West Virginia?”
“It’s not that bad. There are a lot of us here. More so than any other place. I have friends who I can be myself with—a whole community, really. That’s important.”
“I can understand that.” Clutching the pillow to my chest, I rested my head on it. “Do you think Dee is happy here? She makes it sound like she can’t leave. Like, ever.”
Daemon shifted, bringing his legs onto the couch. “Dee wants to pave her own way in life, and I can’t blame her for that.”
Paving her own way had ended up with her having sex with Adam. I wondered if she still had dreams of going to college overseas.
He stretched as if he were trying to rid himself of some sort of tension that had suddenly settled over him. I scooted away, giving him more room. “If you haven’t noticed yet, there are more males than females. So the females are paired off very quickly and protected above all.”
I made a face. “Paired off and mated? I understand it—you guys need to reproduce. But Dee can’t be forced to do that. It’s not fair. You should control your own lives.”
He glanced at me, deep shadows in his eyes. “But we don’t, Kitten.”
I shook my head. “It’s not right.”
“It’s not. Most Luxen don’t push for anything different. Dawson did. He loved Bethany.” Daemon exhaled raggedly. “We were against it. And I thought he was stupid for falling for a human. No offense.”
“None taken.”
“It was hard for him. Our group was upset with him, but Dawson…he was the strong one.” Daemon smiled as he shook his head. “He didn’t cave, and if the colony had discovered the truth, I don’t think they would’ve changed him.”
“Couldn’t he have left with her, snuck past the DOD? Maybe that’s what happened?”
“Dawson loved it here. He was big on hiking and outdoors. He was into the whole rustic-living thing.” Daemon glanced at me. “He’d never leave, especially without telling Dee or me. I know both of them are dead.” He smiled again. “You would’ve liked Dawson. Looked just like me but a much better guy. Not a douchebag, in other words.”
A lump formed in my throat. “I’m sure I would’ve, but you’re not bad.”
He arched a brow.
“Okay, you’re prone to moments of great dickdom, but you’re not bad.” I paused, holding the pillow tight. “Do you want to know what I honestly think?”
“Should I be worried?”
I laughed. “There’s a really nice guy under the jerk. I’ve seen glimpses of him. So while I probably want to beat the crap out of you most of the time, I really don’t think you’re a bad guy. You have a lot of responsibility.”
Daemon tilted his head back and chuckled. “Well, I guess that’s not too bad.”
I shrugged. “Can I ask you a question and you tell me the truth?”
“Always,” he swore.
I reached around my neck and pulled at the dainty chain. The obsidian came into view, and I held it in my hand. “The DOD is a bigger concern than the Arum, aren’t they?”
His lips thinned, but he didn’t lie. “Yes.”
I ran a finger over the wire twisted at the top of the crystal. “What would they do if they knew I was moving things like you?”
“They’d probably do the same thing they’d do to us if they knew.” Daemon reached out and cupped my hand that held the obsidian. He laid his finger over mine, stopping my movements. “They’d lock you up…or worse. But I’m not going to let that happen.”
My skin tingled where it made contact with his. “But how can you live like this? Like, just waiting for them to find out there’s more to you guys?”
His fingers curled around mine, enclosing the pendant until we both held it in our hands. “It’s all I’ve known—it’s all any of us have known.”
I blinked away the sudden rush of tears. “That’s really kind of sad.”
“It’s our life.” He paused. “But don’t worry about them. Nothing will happen to you.”
Our faces were only inches apart. His hand was still around mine. Something struck me then. “You’re always protecting others, aren’t you?”
He squeezed my hand and then released it. Leaning against the couch, he reached one arm back and rested his head against his curved elbow. He didn’t answer my question. “This hasn’t been a very birthday-friendly conversation.”
“It’s okay. You want more milk or anything?”
“No, but I would like to know something.”
I frowned and stretched out my right leg in the small space he didn’t occupy. He was rather large, so it didn’t leave a lot of room. “What?”
“How often do you run through the house singing?” he asked seriously.
I kicked at him, but he caught my toes. “You can leave now.”
“I seriously love these socks.”
“Give me back my foot,” I ordered.
“It’s not so much the fact that they’ve got reindeers on them or that they go all the way up to your knees.” As if that were some kind of great distance. “But it’s the fact they’re like mittens on your feet.”